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CITY OF NEWTON 




Report of 

Special Commission on 

School Building 

Program 



1921 



CITY OF NEWTON 




Report of 
New+o^n.., Special Commission on 

School Building 
Program 



1 92 1 



-iS' 



I UBmHY OF CONGFTFSS 

I NOV 231.^22 I 



CITY OF NEWTON 



REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMISSION ON SCHOOL 
BUILDING PROGRAM 



ig2 I 



The Special Commission was appointed to study the needs 
of the city of Newton with respect to new school buildings 
and to recommend a comprehensive plan for the develop- 
ment of the school system that would be consistent with 
the financial resources of the city. It has, through its own 
members, made a careful study of the problem. It also en- 
gaged the services of Dr. James H. Van Sickle of Spring- 
field, one of the foremost educators of the country, to 
make a survey of the schools of Newton and to report upon 
their existing condition, their needs and the expenditures 
of Newton upon its school system in their relation to those 
of other cities and towns. Dr. Van Sickle's report has been 
of great assistance to the Commission, and we recommend 
its careful reading by 'air citizens interested in our public 
schools. We have however, felt that the responsibility for 
ultimate conclusions is ours, and have given the subject long 
and careful consideration. 

The problem with which we are faced is in part educa- 
tional and in part financial. We must determine not only 
what the city needs, but also what the city can afford to 
pay for. In short, the real object of the inquiry is to deter- 
mine what will be the most advantageous use of the money 
which the city, with due regard for its financial resources, 
can properly invest in the school building program. This 
involves a study into the nature and extent of the necessity, 
the best means for meeting it, and a careful examination of 
the available resources of the city. 



4 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMISSION 

The Extent of the Need for New School Buildiiij^s 

The first point to be determined is the nature and extent 
of the requirement for new school buildings. In general, 
it may be said that in recent years the erection of new 
school buildings has not been commensurate with the 
growth of the school population. The last new school houses 
which have been erected are the Stearns, in Nonantum, in 
1908, the New Hyde, in Newton Highlands, in 1909, and the 
Technical High, in 1909. At the present time the Albert 
Edgar Angier School, built to accommodate the Waban dis- 
trict only, is approaching completion. Since 1909, the date 
of the completion of the last new building, the number of 
school children (figures based on the average membership 
at any one time during the year) has increased from 6,425 
to 8,546 at the present time, and increase of 2121, or 33%. 

This increase has however not been uniform throughout 
the city and has resulted in widely differing degrees of con- 
gestion. In Oak Hill and Lower Falls the school buildings 
are not used to their capacity. In Waban the new school 
will furnish ample accommodations for the near future at 
least. In Newton Centre, Newton Highlands and Upper 
Falls the school buildings are filled, but there is no actual 
overcrowding at present. The High School buildings and 
the grade schools in Newton, Nonantum, Newtonville, West 
Newton and Auburndale are overcrowded at the present 
time. The following table will in some degree show the 
conditions in the more crowded districts. It is obvious that 
on account of the distances between villages ,in Newton it 
is not practicable to relieve congestion by transferring pu- 
pils from one school house to another, as can be done in 
more compactly settled communities. In some of these dis- 
tricts, individual buildings are overcrowded although the 
buildings of the district are not as a whole used to their full 
capacity. It must also be remembered that in one district 
or even in one school building it is not possible to transfer 
a surplus of pupils from one roo,m to another room which is 
not filled to capacity unless the two rooms are used for 
classes of the same grade. 



ON SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM 



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REPORT OP SPECIAL COMMISSION 



Normal Present NumlDer in Number in 
Capacity No. of Excess of Excess of 

Pupils Normal Ca- Normal Ca- 
(maximum pacity in pacity in 







at any one 
time) 


district 
as a whole 


individual 
buildings 


High School Group 
Stearns District 


1850 
560 


2088 
751 


238 
191 


. 277 
191 


(Nonantum) 
Horace Mann District 


767 


841 


74 


93 


(Newtonville) 
Pierce District 


1056 


1034 




36 


(West Newton) 
Burr District 


588 


519 






(Auburndale) 











4821 5233 503 597 

Note: Children in the kindergartens are not included in this 

table. 

The actual number of children in excess of capacity is 
about 10% over this figure, as in the table the actual excess 
is somewhat diminished by the fact that certain rooms are 
not and cannot be used to capacity, as when the children of 
a certain grade are too numerous to be accommodated in 
one room, but do not fill two rooms to the limit of their 
capacity. This excess of pupils over accommodations is met 
in part by the use of rooms as class rooms which were not 
intended or devised for such use; in part by the use of port- 
able school buildings; in part by leasing room in private 
buildings and in part by dividing pupils into morning and 
afternoon classes and using the same school room for two 
sets of pupils in the same day, a system now commonly 
called the "two-platoon system". 

As to the future, it would be idle to attempt to forecast 
the growth of the different villages of Newton by any 
study, however careful, of their relative attractions or their 
likelihood to draw newcomers of this or that station in life, 
or by any other measure than the experience of the past. 
The annexed table shows the growth of the school popula- 



ON SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM f 

tion for the past ten years, in the city as a whole ^nd in 
the respective districts and furnishes as accurate a measure 
as can be devised to demonstrate the probable needs of the 
future. We are thus faced with the situation that Newton 
requires today if all the pupils in the high schools and the 
districts named are to be housed in permanent buildings in 
rooms designed for class room purposes, accommodations 
for 660 pup^ils and in five years will, as nearly as can be es- 
timated, require accommodations for at least as many more. 

The Possible Methods of Meeting the Need 

The problem can be solved for the present at least in 
three different ways: 

(1) By the more general and extensive use of portable 
school buildings. 

(2) By the adoption of the "two-platoon system" to the 
extent required to ,meet the existing congestion. 

(3) By the erection of the requisite number of perma- 
nent school buildings. 

These methods may be considered in order. 

(1) Portable School Buildings. The use of portable 
school buildings as a permanent policy is a possible solu- 
tion of the problem not to be dismissed without considera- 
tion. Portable buildings are comparatively inexpensive. 
The present price of a building containing a single class 
room is $3,500; for a double building, $6,500. The average 
life of such a building is 20 years. Even with the necessi- 
ty of comparatively frequent replacement, portable build- 
ings are infinitely less expensive than permanent buildings 
of the required type. Some educational experts consider 
the one story building the school house of the future; and 
the Chairman of the Schoolhouse Commission of the City of 
Boston stated to certain of the members of this Commission 
that in his opinion in a city like Newton where the cost of 
land was relatively small compared with the cost of con- 
structing permanent buildings, the ideal solution of the 
present difficulty was to surround each of the existing per- 



8 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMISSION 

manent school buildings with as many portable buildings 
as would be required to accommodate the school population 
of the district. The Commission is informed that some 
teachers and some pupils prefer the portable to the perma- 
nent buildings. 

Nevetheless there are serious objections to the use of 
portable buildings as a permanent policy. The portable 
school building has no cellar and the floor is often cold in 
winter and on extremely cold days the building is difficult 
to heat. Conversely, in extremely hot weather the build- 
ings become so insufferably warm that the classes have to be 
dismissed. In times of heavy rain or snow or extreme cold 
the fact that the portable is not under the main school roof 
is an object/ion. Children wishing to use the toilet facili- 
ties are exposed to the weather conditions, and on such 
days all children housed in the portable have no place to go 
for recess play. The portable serves a useful function in 
providing a certain elasticity in housing when there is fluc- 
tuation of population between different sections or in meet- 
ing congestion in a school district until the time is ripe for 
the erection of a new school building; but we do not recom- 
mend the use of a constantly increasing number of port- 
ables as a permanent method of providing for the normal 
growth of the school population of Newton. 

(2) The Two-Platoon System. Part time instruction, 
sometimes called the two-platoon system, may be defined 
as the use of the same school room by two groups of children 
who alternate in different parts of the day. Thus if there 
is but one school room which can be assigned to the children 
of a certain grade, and the children of that grade are in 
number far in excess of the capacity of the room, it is pos- 
sible to divide the class into two groups or platoons and to 
provide that one group shall attend school from 8.30 to 
11.45 and the other from 12.30 to 3.30. This system has ap- 
pealed to some efficiency experts, who deplore the waste in- 
volved in the fact that the school buildings are empty such 
a large proportion of the twenty-four hours of the day, and 



ON SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM 9 

there have been comimunities where thousands of children 
have had their schooling in this way; but we do not know 
of any educational authority affirmatively approving this 
system. There is a curtailment of about 15% of the school 
time, which is equivalent to an entire year in the grade 
schools; the children in the afternoon group receive instruc- 
tion at a time when the mind of a child is not alert and 
their progress suffers accordingly; and there is a disturb- 
ance of normal home conditions when children are not oc- 
cupied in the morning which is injurious to both parents 
• and children. We do not recommend the adoption of the 
two-platoon system as a permanent means of meeting the 
growth in the school population of Newton without adding 
to our existing plant, although it can be used in the lowest 
grade without serious detriment when necessary to avoid 
overcrowding until the time has arrived for the erection of 
a new building. 

We therefore conclude that there is no escape from the 
third possible solution of the problem, namely the erection 
of a sufficient number of permanent buildings to house the 
school children of Newton attending school at the same 
time and during the customary school hours. 

(3) Permanent Buildings. The Junior High School Sys- 
tem. Having reached the conclusion that the erection of 
new school buildings is the appropriate means of .meeting 
the existing congestion, the next question is the nature and 
character of the buildings to be erected. Had this question 
arisen twelve years ago, there could have been but one 
answer; namely an extension of the existing system, by en- 
larging the High School group and by erecting additional 
grade school buildings in the districts where the congestion 
is greatest. The last twelve years have however seen a 
revolutionary change in the organization of public schools 
all over the country, in the rapid growth and very general 
adoption, of an educational system which includes interme- 
diate schools standing between the grade and the high 
schools, generally known as the 6-3-3 or Junior High School 
system. 



10 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMISSION 

Tlie Junior High School originated in Berkeley, California 
in 1910 and extended over the country so rapidly that by 
the end of 1917 no less than 365 school systems, including 
most of the largest cities, were organized on the Junior 
High School plan. Arrested temporarily by the war, the 
growth of the system has proceeded even more rapidly since 
the end of hostilities, so that already 48 cities and towns 
in Massachusetts are maintaining junior high schools. As 
there are no instances known of cities or towns which have 
adopted the junior high school system reverting to the for- 
mer organization, it is not improbable that before many 
years the junior high school system will have completely 
supplanted the older form of school organization. Under 
these circumstances it behooves us to consider the advisa- 
bility of introducing the junior high school system into 
Newton, not only because of the intrinsic merit which such 
a history of growth would indicate, but because of the pos- 
sibility that the universal adoption of the new system in 
the future may render obsolete new buildings erected on 
the old plan long before they are worn out by use. 

The junior high school has been defined as follows: 

"A school organization intermediate between the gram- 
mar school and the high school, formed by a union of 
the upper grades of the grammar school usually with 
one, and occasionally with two, grades of the high 
school, making a separate group and aiming to provide 
for individual differences among students and also to 
facilitate transfer from the grammar school to the high 
school, especially by allowing a limited amount of elec- 
tion of studies and by employing departmental teach- 
ers." 
If appl,ied to Newton, the junior high school would un- 
doubtedly include the seventh and eighth grades of the 
grammar school and the first year of the high school. 

The origin and rapid growth of the junior high school 
system were due to the general belief of educators that the 
school years which the junior high school is intended to 



ON SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM , 11 

cover presented the weakest and most unsatisfactory fea- 
ture of the existing- public school system. The first six 
grades almost exhausted the possibilities of advance in the 
grade schools, and the pupils of the seventh and eighth 
grades made little intellectual progress, and, as a result, 
lost interest in their work. There was nothing in the 
school life or in their course of study to stimulate their in- 
terest. The uniformity of instruction in the grade schools 
gave the pupils no opportunity to test out their interests 
and capacities in the different branches, and the sudden 
change to the methods of the high school resulted in the 
dropping out at the end of the first year of large numbers 
of pupils who could not readily adapt themselves to h,igh 
school methods of instruction, or who had unwittingly 
taken up courses of study for which they were ill suited. 

The junior high school, by bringing together children 
from the upper grades of a number of grade schools, made 
possible departmental teaching, differentiated curricula and 
the use of shops, laboratories, an auditorium, a gymnasium, 
a library and other special rooms which it would be eco- 
nomically impossible to maintain in each of the grade 
schools, and thus enabled the pupils to progress intellect- 
ually, kept their interest aroused, and at the end of the 
course started each pupil on the career for which his ca- 
pacity best fitted him. 

From the financial standpoint there is no objection to 
the adoption of the junior high school system,_ since its 
adoption does not involve the discarding of any existing 
buildings and the erection of a new set of school houses to 
take their place, but merely means that as the growth in 
population requires new school buildings, junior high 
schools shall be erected instead of provision being made 
for additions to the senior high schools and the construc- 
tion of new grade schools; and as nearly as the Commission 
has been able to ascertain, the requisite junior high schools 
can be provided at somewhat less cost than the buildings 
required if the existing system is to be continued. This 



12 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMISSION 

gain, however, would be counterbalanced by an increase in 
the operating expense of the junior high school system 
over the existing system which in other cities and towns 
has amounted to about 3%, so that it makes little differ- 
ence financially whether the junior high school system is 
adopted or not. 

We acordingly believe that the junior high school system 
should be adopted by Newton, and that such new school 
buildings as the city erects should be junior high schools, 
which will relieve the congestion both in the high and the 
grade schools, and make unnecesary for the present the 
erection of new buildings of any other type. 

Financial Problem 

Present High Ck>st of Newton Schools 

The city of Newton has certainly not been ungenerous in 
the support of its public schools. In the year 1918, which 
is the last year covered by the published Statistics of Mu- 
n.icipal Finances, it is reported that Newton with a popu- 
lation of 43,113 expended for the maintenance of its 
public schools the sum of $602,387.34, a gross amount 
not equalled except by the cities of over 100,000 in 
population and far in excess per capita of population of 
the amount expended by any other city or by any other 
town of over 5,000 population, leading even such towns as 
Brookline, Winchester, Milton and Wellesley by a wide mar- 
gin. Wh^le the net cost is relatively somewhat less, be- 
cause Newton receives some reimbursement from the state 
on account of the Vocational High School, and also fur- 
nishes education to more non-residents, who pay tuition 
fees, than most of the other cities and towns, the effect of 
these reimbursements is not sufficient to alter the relative 
position of Newton in costs per capita of populat^ion. 

In 1919, the figures are somewhat misleading, as many 
cit,ies and towns increased the salaries of the school teach- 
ers early in the year, while Newton's increases did not go into 



ON SCHOOT. BUILDING PROGRAM 13 

effect until the end of the year. In 1919, Newton is recorded 
in the Bulletin of the Department of Education as spending 
$688,900 for the support of its public schools (exclusive of 
vocational schools) which appears to be the highest amount 
expended per capita of population by any city, or town of 
over 5,000 population, except Springfield. If the vocation- 
al schools are considered, even in 1919, Newton had the 
highest per capita expenditure in the state, and in 1920, 
when the increases of salaries went into effect, and Newton 
expended over $830,000 for the maintenance of her schools, 
the city undoubtedly again went far into the lead on ex- 
penditure for school purposes in proportion to population. 

It is true that in 1919 the expenditure per pupil in New- 
ton was but $70.79, and this was exceeded by Springfield 
and Holyoke among the cities and by Brookline, Milton, 
Concord, Wellesley and Amherst among the towns but the 
expenditure per pupil is of course no measure of the rela- 
tive burden of the public school system upon the citizens; 
moreover, in 1920, after Newton's salary increases went 
into effect, the cost per pupil increased proportionally. 
Figures as to the expenditure per dollar of valuation are 
of little significance, as they do not take into consideration 
the revenues of the municipality from sources other than 
direct taxation. 

It is undoubtedly the fact that upon the basis of cost 
per capita of population that citizens of Newton are and 
for many years have been spending, man for man, more on 
their public schools than the citizens of any other city or 
town in the commonwealth. 

Reasons for the High Cost of Education in Newton 

There are three principal reasons for the high cost of 
education in Newton. The first is the obvious one that 
Newton is divided into villages spread over 18 square miles 
of territory, each of which must have its own schoolhouse, 
and not only is there greater expense in maintaining so 
many scattered educational units, but it is not possible to 



14 REPORT OP SPECIAL COMMISSION 

maintain them all to the extent of their capacity as can be 
done in cities of equal population but less area. Pupils 
cannot be transferred from an overcrowded schoolhouse in 
one village to an unfilled one in another, because the dis- 
tances between villages are too great for young children to 
travel. 

The second reason is the high percentage of school children 
to population, as shown in the Report of the Department 
of Education for the school year 1919-1920, namely 7,994 
(including the Vocational High School) in a population of 
43,113, as compared for example with Brookline with 4,423 
in a population of 33,490, or Holyoke with 6,225 in a popu- 
lation of 60,816. This is due in part to the fact that New- 
ton is a cj-ty of homes and children are numerous; and also 
to the tendency in Newton to keep children in school, not 
merely as long as the law requires, but as long as there is 
any instruction to be had. Thus in the high schools of 
Newton, including the Vocational High School, there are 
now 2,019 pupils as compared with 790 in Brookline, 728 
in Holyoke, and but 863 in New Bedford with a population 
of 109,568. Although Newton is the sixteenth c,ity of the 
state in population, it is surpassed in the number of high 
school students only by Boston, Worcester, Cambridge, 
Springfield and Somerville, and in the number of high 
school students per capita of population is far in the lead. 
The efiPect of this tendency in Newton to secure as much 
education as the city will furnish is not only to keep a 
large number of children in the schools all the tjptie, but 
to make the average cost of education high, since the cost 
of educating a high school student is much greater than 
the cost of educating a pupil in the grade schools. 

The third J'eason is found in the extremely strong finan- 
cial position of Newton in the years when the public school 
system was developed. While the real estate in Newton 
has never been of relatively great value, because the near- 
ness to Boston has prevented the growth of any business 
section in which land values are high and expensive office 



ON SGHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM 15 

buildings, hotels, department stores and the like are 
gathered together, and there are few great mills with valu- 
able machinery, the aggregate invested wealth of the in- 
habitants of the city has for many years been well above 
the average, and until very recently furnished ample 
revenue to the city, so that the city was able to establish 
its school system in accordance with a standard wh^ch few 
other cities sought to emulate, without impos^ing any un- 
reasonable burden upon its citizens. In recent years how- 
ever changes in the tax laws have deprived Newton of all 
benefit from the taxes on the invested wealth of the resi- 
dents of the city. Thus, formerly the taxes on stocks and 
bonds and securities of every kind went into the treasury 
of the c,ity or town of which the owner was a resident. In 
1908, however it was provided by the legislature that of 
the tax on Massachusetts corporations only one-half should 
go to the towns where the stockholders lived, and the re- 
mainder should be paid to the towns where the busiiness of 
the corporation was carried on, and in 1910, it was pro- 
vided that the whole should be pa^id to the towns where 
the business was carried on. Since the latter enactment 
Newton's share of the tax on domestic business corpora- 
tions, which formerly furnished a very substantial source 
of revenue, has been very small, amounting in 1920 to but 
$32,611.03, as compared with $178,231.91 received by 
Holyoke and $396,497.39 by Lawrence and large amounts 
received by other manufacturing and commercial cities in 
proportion. In 1919, it was provided that the proceeds of 
the income tax, which is the only tax on almost all forms 
of taxable securities except stock in Massachusetts corpora- 
tions, should be distributed among the cities and towns 
of the state in proportion to the value of their real estate 
and tangible personal property instead of in accordance 
with the residence of the owners of the securities taxed, 
and as a result of this legislation Newton will receive 
scarcely over $200,000 out of the $975,000 paid each year in 
income taxes by residents of Newton, the remainder going 
to such prosperous manufacturing and commercial cities 



10 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMISSION 

as Springfield, Worcester and New Bedford. At present 
the only kind of invested funds which are taxed in such a 
way that the benefit of the tax accrues to the place of 
residence of the taxpayer is shares in national banks. In 
other words, Newton has lost any advantage it formerly 
had over other cities and towns by reason of the high aver- 
age of holdings of intangible personal property among its 
inhabitants, because it no longer receives the tax on such 
property; but it has had handed down to it a school system 
built up in times when the tax laws were more favorable 
to the residential towns; and Newton therefore faces the 
necessity of deciding whether to scale down its school ex- 
penditures in proportion to the reduction in its resources, 
with a corresponding deterioration in the qual,ity of edu- 
cation, or to find some means of continuing at .its present 
high standard the public school system of which the city 
is so justly proud. 

Present Resources of Newton 

The chief reliance of Newton for revenue from now on 
must be the tax on real estate and tangible personal prop- 
erty. The total receipts from all other sources, such as 
corporation taxes, income taxes, poll taxes, license fees and 
miscellaneous revenues will probably not exceed $683,000'. 
The demands on the city for state, county and metropolitan 
district taxes will probably not be less than $475,000, so 
that all but $208,000 of the expenditures for municipal 
purposes must be met by the direct tax on real estate and 
tangible personal property. The aggregate valuation of the 
city for the current year will be probably $88,000,000, so 
that the city will be in a position to raise $88,000 for each 
dollar of tax per thousand of valuation. 

The expenditures of the city for other purposes than 
schools have, we have been informed, been pared down to 
the lowest degree consistent with safety, and yet the total 
budget for purposes other than schools for the current year 
amounted to $1,667,365.72 and appropriations outside the 
budget will probably reach $100,000 more. Many of these 



ON SCHOOiL BUILDING PROGRAM 17 

expenditures are required by law; and it is obvious that 
the city cannot wisely cut its appropriations for mainte- 
nance of streets or sewers, for the health department, for 
the fire or police departments or for other like purposes 
without danger to the welfare of the community. The only 
departments not absolutely essential to the physical wel- 
fare of the city are the playground and library departments, 
and few would be willing to see the playgrounds and public 
libraries discont|inued even for the sake of improving the 
public schools. If, as we have been informed is the case, 
all of the departments other than the school department 
have been most strictly limited in their expenditures, in 
order that the city might spend its money more freely on 
its public schools, little more can be expected to be gained 
for school purposes by further reducing the appropriations 
of the other departments. 

The problem thus becomes one of keeping within the 
present expenditure for school purposes or increasing the 
tax rate. In the opinion of the Commission, a further sub- 
stantial increase in the tax rate would be most unwise. 
The 1920 tax rate in Newton, $27,20, was well above the 
average in the state, and substantially in excess of the tax 
rates of other cities and towns of the same character and 
with which Newton naturally competes. Thus the tax rate 
in Weston was $14 per thousand, in Brookline $17.31, in 
Wellesley $18.50, in Milton $21.60 and even in Boston but 
$24.10. If the discrepancy is further greatly increased, the 
growth of the city will be seriously jeopardized. Members 
of the Commission have been informed by persons in a posi- 
tion to know the facts that already imany desirable new- 
comers have been diverted from Newton to other towns by 
the high tax rate of Newton, influenced probably not so 
much by the additional annual charges as by the general 
belief that a city with a high and increasing tax rate is on 
the down grade. If the high tax rate results in a depreci- 
ation in values the tax rate will progressively increase, and 
the end of Newton as a high class residential city will fol- 



18 REPORT OP SPECIAL COMMISSION 

low within a few years and will be accompanied by the total 
collapse of our prized school system. No true friend of the 
public schools will ask for an expenditure for the schools, 
however much temporary benefit it may confer upon them, 
that will result in a substantial increase in the tax rate. 
We believe that under present conditions the tax rate 
should not be allowed to exceed $28 a thousand. 

The financial situation may be tabulated as follows: 
Estimated receipts from sources other than the 

direct tax levy. (Corporation taxes, income 

taxes, etc.) " $ 683,000 

Direct tax on valuation of $88,000,000 at rate of 

$28 a thousand 2,464,000 

Total available revenue 3,147,(K)0 

Required for state, county and metropolitan dis- 
trict taxes 475,000 

Available for municipal purposes 2,672,000 

Required for municipal purposes other than the 

maintenance of schools,* and for overlay of 

$15,000 1,782,365 



Available for school purposes 889,635 

Present budget requirements for school purposes 794,933 

Available for increase 94,702 

Required to meet increase in salaries voted by 

School Committee in October, 1920 35,000 

Available for new building program 59,702 

It is apparent from the foregoing facts and figures that, 
using all our available resources and with the exercise of 
the greatest prudence and economy, it w;ill not be possible 
at the present time for the city to commit itself to a new 

*In the foregoing table only appropriations for schools ex- 
pended by the School Committee are included as school expenses. 
The maintenance of sqhool buildings and the interest and princi- 
pal of the school debt amount to about $104,000 additional. 



ON SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM 19 

school building programime that will involve an additional 
expenditure in excess of $50,000 a year; and that with any 
further increase of the maintenance cost of the schools or 
of the other departments of the city nor proportioned to 
the normal increase in the aggregate valuation of the city 
even this small margin will be destroyed; and that accord- 
ingly the only means of providing the new buildings which 
will enable our public school system to continue at its pres- 
ent standard is the limitation of the maintenance costs in 
the school department as well as in the other departments 
of the city in accordance with the resources of the city 
available for the purpose rather than in accordance with 
the desires and needs of the department. 

Coiiclusion 

With these facts before us, and facing the injury to the 
city's attractiveness as a place of residence that would arise 
on the one hand from a substantial increase in the tax rate 
and on the other from a definite decision that the city could 
no longer hope to house its school children in adequate 
permanent buildings, we have come to the following con- 
clusions: 

(1) That the junior high school system be approved as 
a matter of educational policy and be gradually introduced 
throughout the city so far as the resources of the city will 
permit as the increase in school population requires the 
erection of new school buildings. 

(2) That the buildings erected be of as simple design 
and as inexpensive construction as is consistent with dura- 
bility, good taste, healthful conditions and the safety of 
the children from fire, and that whenever practicable build- 
ings now used for grade schools be converted to use as 
junior high schools. 

(3) That in order to relieve the existing inadequacy of 
the school conditions, a junior high school building be 
erected immediately in the Newtonville — Nonantum dis- 
trict, at a cost, including land, architect's fees, and equip- 



20 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMISSION 

ment not to exceed $350,000, and that two portable school- 
houses be provided for the use of the Davis School in West 
Newton. 

(4) That a second junior high school building be erected 
in the Auburndale — ^West Newton district as soon as the 
increase in school population indicates the immediate need 
of such a building, provided in the meantime a decrease in 
the current expenditures of the city or an increase in its 
aggregate valuation has rendered the erection of such a 
building possible without bringing about a further increase 
in the rate of taxation. 

Respectfully submitted, 

PHILIP NTCHOiLS, Chairman, 
WILLIAM L. AiLLEN, 
GEORGE M. ANGIER, 
EVERETT E. KEiNT, 
ULYSSES G. WHEELER, 
STEPHEN H. WHIDOEiN. 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 

June 30, 1921. 

Respectfully transmitted to the Board of Aldermen. 

EDWIN 0. CHILDS, Mayor. 



Supplemental Report of Special Com 
mission on School Building Program 



BY OEORGE M. ANGIER 



July 9, 1921. 



Referring- to the Report of the Special Commission on 
School Building- Program, of which Alderman Philip Nichols 
is Chairman, there are one or two conclusions to which I do 
not agree with the Commission and I beg to submit the fol- 
lowing with the request that Your Honor submit it to the 
Board of Aldermen with the Commission's Report. 

I appreciate thoroughly the financial situation, but I am 
also deeply conscious of the requirements of the School De- 
partment to properly carry on the school activities. 

That part of the Report to which I take exception is as 
follows: 

"If the decrepancy (referring to the tax rate of several 
nearby towns) is further greatly increased, the growth of 
the city will be seriously jeopardized. Members of the 
Commission have been informed by persons in a position to 
know the facts that already many desirable newcomers 
have been diverted from Newton to other towns by the high 
tax rate of Newton, influenced probably not so much by 
the additional annual charges as by the general belief that 
a city with a high and increasing tax rate is on the down 
grade. If the high tax rate results in a depreciation in 
values the tax rate will progressively increase, and the end 
of Newton as a high class residential city will follow within 
a few years, and will be accompanied by the total collapse 
of our prized school system." 

The School Committee after very careful investigation and 
taking into consideration the recommendations made by 

21 



22 REPORT OP SPECIAL COMMISSION 

committees of the Board of Aldermen, special committees of 
the School Board and also the Van Sickle Survey have for- 
mally and definitely recommended to Your Honor and the 
Board of Aldermen the erection as soon as possible of two 
Junior High Schools, one to provide accommodations for 
the Nonantum and Newtonville District and one for West 
Newton and Auburndale. 

Various committees and citizens for the past year have 
been giving this matter serious thought and the final con- 
clusion of all has been that to properly care for the pupils 
of the Newton schools: 

1. The Junior High School System should be adopted. 

2. We should begin as soon as possible a consistent 
building program to carry these recommendations 
into effect. 

In carrying out this building program it seems to me 
that we should keep in mind a definite educational policy 
and to make that policy real and effective provide new 
school buildings just as soon as the need for more school 
accommodations in various parts of the City would warrant 
new construction. 

To carry out logically the recommendation of the Com- 
mission and the other Committees, I am strongly of the 
opinion that the City should immediately start upon the 
erection of two Junior High Schools instead of one as 
recommended by the Commission and that the Board should 
appropriate immediately sufficient money to carry this into 
effect. 

To anyone who will investigate the conditions of the 
school accommodations in the West Newton — Auburndale 
District, with special reference to the Davis School, the 
seriousness of the situation will soon be apparent. The 
Davis School should have been condemned years ago and 
while the erection of two portable class rooms may relieve 
the present crowded condition, it is but a temporary relief 
and even then does not afford facilities to which not only 
the pupils but the teachers are entitled. 



ON SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM 23 

The Superintendent of Schools has told me that he would 
rather have two Junior High Schools, even though the cost 
of the two above the land, was $500,000, than to have one 
now at $350,000 and another at some undertermined and 
perhaps remote future time. We should then relieve the 
high school in such a manner that it would add to the effi- 
ciency of the work there to such an extent that we could 
get along for several years if we wished before taking the 
next step. 

The Superintendent also tells me that to take care of the 
situation in West Newton for three or four years under 
present conditions would require three or four additional 
portable schools, provided we continue to use the Davis 
School indefinitely, but he also strongly recommends that 
the Davis School should be abandoned. The erection of a 
Junior High School in this District would permit the grade 
pupils in the Davis School being sent to the Pierce School. 

I understand that the Commission was informed by an 
architect of standing in Newton that two Junior High 
Schools of the size and character needed could be erected 
and equipped for $600,000 above the cost of the land. 

Another prominent architect whom I have consulted 
states that there would be considerable saving in building 
both of these schools at the same time and that with the 
possible exception of foundations and basements due to the 
difference in the contour of the property, the buildings 
could be exact duplicates. By erecting two duplicate build- 
ings at the same time there would undoubtedly be a saving 
in architect fees of a considerable amount. 

I urgently urge Your Honor and every member of the 
Board of Aldermen to personally carefully investigate the 
serious situation in the West Newton — ^Auburndale Dis- 
trict, — especially the Davis School, — ^before deciding not to 
erect the second Junior High School during the coming 
year. 

As to the unfavorable effect the high tax rate may have 
on the future of Newton, I realize that to a certain extent 



24 REPORT OP SPECIAL COMMISSION 

this is so, but I believe that poor school accommodations, 
poor streets, poor sewers, and poor sidewalks will do more 
to keep the class of citizens we want in Newton away, than 
a few dollars increase in the tax rate. 

I have no fear as to the rapid increase in building of resi- 
dences in Newton during the next five or ten years. Bos- 
ton is rapidly growing toward Newton and there is no dis- 
trict around Boston that should have a more healthy fu- 
ture growth than Newton and good school accommodation 
will do more to bring families to Newton than any other 
one thing. I believe that the increased income to the City 
from taxation on new and improved property during the 
next few years, together with the saving in erecting two 
buildings at the same time, will do more than offset any 
saving there will be by postponing another building two 
or three years and that the only way to get the right kind 
of people to build and live in Newton is to make Newton 
attractive. 

During the past two years, even with the knowledge of 
the large increase in the tax rate there have been more 
new buildings erected in Newton than in any surrounding 
town. 

Therefore, as a purely business proposition I believe the 
City should grant the School Department proper facilities 
for carrying on the school activities. 

Our school children of today are the citizens of Newton 
in the future. 

Real estate men, who are familiar with Newton property 
tell me that the new school building in Waban has been a 
great factor in the rapid growth of that village during the 
past year or so and many more new residences are contem- 
plated. 

The demand for moderate priced residences in Newton is 
considerably greater than the supply, not only to buy but 
to rent and if anyone doubts this let him try to either buy 
or rent a suitable residence. There are practically none 
for rent and the few for sale are either old houses upon 



ON SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM 25 

which the owners hope to realize excessive profits, or new 
buildings which were erected when prices were at their 
peak and the owners are unable to sell on a declining mar- 
ket except at a sacrifice. 

I also take exception to the statement that the life of a 
portable school building such as we use in Newton is 20 
years and while I agree that the one story building is 
worthy of consideration, I seriously object to the portable 
type. The portable building is all right for temporary or 
emergency purposes, but there is a decided limit to its use. 

In view of the recommendations of the Van Sickle Sur- 
vey, the findings and recommendations of the Special Com- 
mission, the very definite recommendations of the School 
Committee and other committees who have considered the 
matter, I do not see how the City Government can con- 
sistently do otherwise than carry out the recommendations 
of these various reports except by having ready for occu- 
pancy at the earliest possible date two Junior High School 
buildings, thus enabling Newton to maintain the high 
standard of its schools and do justice to the City's greatest 
asset, — its children. 

Respectfully submitted, 

(Signed) G. M. ANGIER. 



Supplemental Report of Special Com- 
mission on School Building Program 

By Everett E, Kent, Cliairman of Scliool Committee 



July 8, 1921., 



I think the fact ought to be made clear that the proposed 
junior high school building at Newtonville will not suffi- 
ciently relieve the housing need which already exists and 
provide for the growth reasonably to be expected in the 



26 REPORT OP SPECIAL COMMISSION 

immediate future. Estimates of the City's financial strength 
have strongly influenced the Commission; and I think this 
proper. But it is only the doubt whether those charged 
with responsibility for the finances of the City could man- 
age it, which has led to my consent that the second junior 
high school building be deferred. If it were permissible to 
give due weight to the decrease in educational efficiency 
resulting from too crowded conditions, or to the education- 
al advantages of the junior high school system, these con- 
siderations would swing the scales heavily in favor of the 
taking of steps to provide a second junior high school build- 
ing at once. 

(Signed) EVEHETT E. KENT. 



EXECUTIVE DEPAiRTMENT. 
Respectfully transmitted to the Board of Aldermen. 

EDWIN 0. CHILDS, Mayor. 



029 452 223 2 




